Two other Georgia runoffs to watch

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Voters head to the polls today in Georgia for primary runoff elections. In Monday’s Score we talked about the main attraction: the GOP gubernatorial race between Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and state Secretary of State Brian Kemp. But two other down-ballot runoffs are worth watching as well: The Democratic primary runoffs in Georgia’s 6th and 7th Districts.

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The 6th District had the costliest House race ever last year, when now-Rep. Karen Handel beat out Democrat Jon Ossoff by about 4 points. Now, two more Democrats are vying for the opportunity to take on Handel: Businessman Kevin Abel and gun control activist Lucy McBath. McBath has received the backing from the likes of EMILY’s List and Everytown for Gun Safety. Abel, meanwhile has joined the chorus of Democratic challengers hoping to win by bucking party leadership, saying he wouldn’t support Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi as party leader.

The 7th District will see Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux, a professor at Georgia State, and businessman David Kim face off today, with the winner facing Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) in November. Both candidates have outraised the incumbent this cycle (although Kim gave his campaign a very sizable personal loan and contribution to make that possible). But whoever emerges will face a serious cash-on-hand disadvantage. As of their pre-runoff FEC reports, both had less than $100,000 cash on hand, while Woodall had just under $529,000 in his war chest in his most recent quarterly filing. Bourdeaux was also endorsed by EMILY’s List and saw two of her former primary foes back her for the runoff.

Both districts represent pickup opportunities for Democrats come November. The 6th and 7th are both listed as a top target for the DCCC — both being named to their “majority makers” list of GOP-held targets. Each also includes one of the six “reverse-pivot counties” in America: counties that voted Republican for president in 2008 and 2012 but backed Hillary Clinton in 2016.

CASH DASH — The DSCC narrowly outraised the NRSC $5.9 million to $5.7 million in June, Campaign Pro’s James Arkin reported. The DSCC has a cash on hand advantage, $36.7 million to $18.8 million.

— The DGA is giving $250,000 to the Georgia Democratic Party for the coordinated campaign with nominee Stacey Abrams, Campaign Pro’s Daniel Strauss reported.

Good Tuesday morning. Here’s an interesting trend piece from Bloomberg’s Riley Griffin from over the weekend on how women’s magazines are taking bigger and bolder steps into political reporting. The fine folks at The Hotline refer to candidates trying to get into these mags as the “glossy primary,” and it is definitely worth watching. As always, you can email me at zmontellaro@politico.com or DM me at @ZachMontellaro.

SPECIAL ELECTION WATCH — The NRCC will spend another $250,000 for the special election in Ohio’s 12th District, Campaign Pro’s Elena Schneider reported. The group has now spent $580,000 for Republican Troy Balderson ahead of the election. Meanwhile, Balderson’s campaign dropped at least $138,000 in additional spending on broadcast ads from July 25-31, according to Advertising Analytics.

YEAR OF THE MOM — More women running for office are making motherhood a central plank of their candidacy. The Atlantic’s Annika Neklason: “Beyond showing themselves breastfeeding [like Maryland gubernatorial candidate Krish Vignarajah and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Kelda Roys], moms running for office have incorporated their motherhood into various facets of their campaigns. Some candidates have brought their babies and young children to campaign events and featured them in promotional materials; many have drawn on stories about their children to demonstrate their groundedness or make emotional calls to action.”

2020 WATCH — America Rising PAC, the Republican outside oppo research group, is kicking into high gear to derail potential 2020 Democrats. POLITICO's Christopher Cadelago: “With a potentially colossal field of Democratic presidential contenders and no one close to being a front-runner, the mission figures to be an expensive endeavor. So donors across the country are quietly getting the hard sell as the group moves toward its goal of raising $8 million for the 2020 cycle — roughly three times as much as it took in during the successful three-year quest to help defeat [Hillary] Clinton. … The idea is to identify and create fissures among Democratic candidates, fueling a race to embrace liberal litmus tests like single-payer health care, and stoke emerging flashpoints such as rejecting corporate PAC contributions, legalizing marijuana and abolishing the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.”

— One potential 2020 contender? Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). The Intercept’s Ryan Grim and Zaid Jilani report that he “has been telling political consultants and operatives that he intends to run for president of the United States in 2020, and is beginning to put together a team, according to multiple sources who’ve spoken to Ryan.” And while his district is one of the “few poor, majority-white districts that is represented by a Democrat,” Ryan is reportedly saying “he believes his path to the White House runs through the ‘yoga vote.’” ABC News’ Elizabeth Brown-Kaiser and John Parkinson reported that Ryan hired Pete D’Alessandro, Bernie Sanders’ Iowa state director.

FIRST IN SCORE — ON THE AIRWAVES — House Majority PAC, which is associated with Democratic leadership, is going up with a new round of digital ads in 12 districts: AR-02, CA-10, IL-12, KS-03, KY-06, MN-03, NC-09, NJ-11, NY-22, OH-01, PA-07 and WA-08. The first ad targets Republicans over an “age tax” that was in the GOP health bill and the second ad hits Republicans for supporting the GOP’s tax plan. The ads are part of a previously announced $3 million buy and will run on online streaming platforms.

— Republican Matt Rosendale released a new attack adin Montana going after Sen. Jon Tester for his long career in D.C. Rosendale dumps a mailing piece with his own image in the garbage, saying it’s “more trash from Jon Tester’s Washington.” He then accuses Tester of becoming a “multimillionaire” during his time in the Senate and owning a “cosmopolitan castle” in Washington. Data from Advertising Analytics show Rosendale’s campaign is spending at least $250,000 on the ad.

ENDORSEMENT CORNER — The Republican Jewish Coalition is up with its first round of endorsements. NBC News’ Ben Kamisar: “The group is backing six Republican House candidates — Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock; Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo; New Jersey Rep. Leonard Lance; Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam; Pennsylvania Rep. Keith Rothfus; and Young Kim, a former state lawmaker running to replace GOP Rep. Ed Royce in California. The group is also endorsing three of the GOP's Senate hopefuls — Indiana businessman Mike Braun, North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer; and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.”

THE AGE OF THE MEGADONOR — Since 2010, rich donors have had more power than ever to sway elections by directing huge streams of cash to their favored candidates and causes. An analysis from The Center for Public Integrity’s Lateshia Beachum found that those donors are largely old and white, which could be hurting the Democratic Party: “The nation’s wealthiest African-Americans are decidedly reluctant campaign contributors, almost completely ceding the rarefied rank of ‘political megadonor’ to older, white men, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Federal Election Commission and Center for Responsive Politics data. ... [M]inority donors have been all but absent from every federal election’s top 100 political spenders list, the analysis found.”

SCOTUS FIGHT — Red-state Democrats still continue to be flummoxed by what exactly to do on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. This is especially true for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who is being pressured on both the left and right. The New York Times’ Thomas Kaplan caught some particular realpolitik from a voter that captures Heitkamp’s dilemma: “Mary Ann Dunbar confessed that she had reservations about Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. But Ms. Dunbar, a 67-year-old social worker, was not about to press her Democratic senator to take a stand against the judge ... ‘I think you have to be realistic,’ she said. ‘He’s probably going to win anyway, and if it makes the people of North Dakota happy, then I’d rather have her there.’” Her opponent, Cramer, said he believed she’d eventually vote for Kavanaugh, while she argued in an interview that the state’s voters value her independence.

— The Judicial Crisis Network announced a new ad campaign in West Virginia, North Dakota, Indiana, and Alabama urging the incumbent Democratic senators to vote for Kavanaugh. The ads are backed by a new $1.5 million buy.

WORRIED? ME? — New York politics has seen a handful of high-profile corruption convictions during the tenure of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but none of that seems to be affecting his reelection chances. POLITICO New York’s Jimmy Vielkind: “Cuomo, who was never accused of wrongdoing during the trials, continues to poll well as he seeks a third term this year. And he appears to be unconcerned about any possible electoral consequences arising from those trials. ‘I think there has never been a suggestion that I did anything wrong,’ the governor said last week in Brooklyn, asked if he thought the convictions would have an impact in either his primary contest against Cynthia Nixon or the general election in November.”

STAFFING UP — Two more White House alums are joining Marc Short at GuidePost Strategies. Andy Koenig and Bethany Scully, who both worked with Short in the White House legislative affairs office, are joining the firm. GuidePost was founded by Phil Cox and Marie Sanderson, two RGA alums.

NEW DEM TOOL — Josh Hendler, the former CTO of the DNC and current CTO for a company called Hope, developed a new tool called “Crush the Midterms,” which allows users to “to put in your location, desired levels of financial and time commitment, and special skills to create a unique plan tailored to the time, money, skills, and issues you are most passionate about.”

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I think she’s almost like a shark; I don’t think she sleeps. She is as tough as they come,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) on Pelosi to Vox.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this newsletter misstated the name of former White House legislative affairs director Marc Short's firm. It is GuidePost Strategies.

About The Author : Zach Montellaro

Zach Montellaro is a campaign reporter and the author of the Morning Score. Before joining the campaign team he was the producer for POLITICO Playbook and co-authored the Playbook Power Briefing. He also previously worked at National Journal on the Hotline team.

Zach is an alumnus of The George Washington University. He’s also a native New Yorker and is perpetually disappointed by the New York Mets.